Just an A-1 bunch of guys, 1930

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Some famous names at top center: Milling (in dark, non-A-1 jacket) and Kirtland, 2 of the Army's very first fliers, then Andrews, Arnold, and Spatz.
Others such as McClelland, Howard, Royce, and Johnson, may be familiar from the Button Pocket A-2 discussion.
Very few of these wartime pilots actually saw action overseas - Arnold arrived in France the day the war ended!

 

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It's been revelatory doing this research. We think of early flying as a young man's game, but in the 20s and 30s, military flying was dominated by the WW1 generation. And not by the dashing dogfighters of France, who typically left the service if they survived, but by officers who had trained for surface warfare and spent the war stateside or at the rear, where they learned the most important skill of peacetime soldiery: functioning and thriving under constant barrages of chickensh*t.

 

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An excellent view of typical kit of that era is afforded by Lt. Karl Baumeister of the 77th Pursuit Squadron, standing in front of his P-12 at Mather Field in 1931. Many pilots did not wear the standard web belt at the time, and styles of high boots varied from laceless to eyelet to speed-lace to semi-buttoned.

Baumeister still has his early-model A-1 jacket, with buttons at the waist and a single button/loop up top. There are odd striations on the right side, which may explain why he didn't wear it out earlier - perhaps it was his back-up!

As a captain in 1942, Baumeister was CO of the 37th Bomb Sq., 17th Group, helping train and select crews for the Doolittle Raid. A year later, as a colonel, he commanded the 320th Bomb Group in the MTO. In civilian life he managed the municipal airport in his hometown of Walla Walla, WA.

 

[dinomartino1]

Great pics I love anything from the 30s

 

[Lebowski]

Exceptional photos, many thanks for sharing it!